1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cots, and more particularly pertains to an improved cot particularly adapted for use by toddlers in day care centers and also by adults and other individuals in refugee shelters, camps, or similar facilities. Day care centers typically employ cots for use by small children taking daily naps. Cots serve the purpose of supporting children above cold and dirty room floors, and additionally provide a regular sleeping environment which promotes organized and scheduled napping. Important considerations for such cots include low cost, convenient transportation and storage, durability, and ease of cleaning and sanitizing. The cot must also provide a warm, safe, and comfortable sleeping surface for small children and other individuals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art cots typically include a wood, steel, or aluminum frame with a cloth cover stretched thereover. Such cots are difficult to store and clean. U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,977 issued on Nov. 25, 1980 to B. Snow discloses a one piece cot vacuum molded from a thin sheet of plastic and including a recessed contoured sleeping surface spaced above outwardly extending floor contact flanges. A plurality of the one-piece molded cots may be stacked for storage. The cot disclosed by Snow possesses exposed flange edges which create the potential for injury to small children and other individuals and also separates the sleeping surface from the typically cold floor surface by only an open air space. Due to the open bottom construction, the cot disclosed by Snow possesses limited structural rigidity and load bearing capacity. Further, the cot of Snow does not provide for the convenient securement of accessory linen items nor is it susceptible of manufacture by a rotational molding process. The vacuum molding process employed in forming the cot of Snow results in stress points in the finished cots where the plastic sheet stock material is deformed to conform with the die. In use, the stress points fracture, creating cracks which pinch and cut a user's skin.